Word of Mouth Marketing - Important Takeaways

Let me begin by saying that Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz was a very relevant and interesting read. There were several important ideas that I learned from the reading and I will briefly touch on a few of them in this blog posting.

First, I really appreciated the inclusion of the honesty concept. Far too often consumers see fake reviews published by folks who believe they are being stealth. Andy makes a great point that these disingenuous attempts to persuade potential customers are easily spotted by consumers are do far more damage than good. I have noticed several of these postings on popular sites such as Yelp and Amazon. My urge is to avoid any organization that uses false pretenses to promote their business or products. Andy’s simple rules for honest word of mouth marketing are clear and concise. My hope is that more and more companies will catch onto this message.

I believe the idea of honesty ties well into the topic of positive customer service. I believe that Andy’s message that great customer service will create positive word of mouth marketing is the most important topic in the book. Too often companies try to hide behind expensive advertising to boost positive opinions rather fixing the root of the problem which often relates to poor customer service. Companies with great customer service are talked about often and in a positive light. I am glad that Andy devoted a great deal of time to this topic and included several examples of how customer service can be tremendously powerful (both positive and negative).

Word of mouth marketing is not something new and has been driving business for hundreds of years; however the emergence of technology has certainly impacted the power and spread of word of mouth communication. I think Andy did a great job of discussing how this change took place and how organizations can positively harness this powerful tool. I believe that any marketer and/or manager should pay close attention to these topics (e.g. joining the conversation, being genuine, and being proactive).

I am glad that Andy brought up the power of customer feedback. Though he did not go into much detail, I thought this was an extremely important topic to mention. I am glad that he discussed the importance of client feedback and how companies can use this free information to innovate products and improve customer service.

Lastly, I really took away the fact that word of mouth must be interesting or it will not spread. Too often I see companies trying to join in the conversation with uninteresting product plugs and other self-interested motives. Andy makes a great point that word of mouth marketing must be interesting in order to be effective.